How the Huskies Landed Elite WR Marcus Harris at the Last Minute

The University of Washington football recruitment of Marcus Harris didn't come with a set of instructions. Can't be found in a textbook. Doesn't have a how-to video. It was conducted totally on the fly.

Someone should do their graduate thesis on it.

It begins with Husky coach Jedd Fisch, during his team's recent bye week, attending the Mater Dei-Centennial playoff game on a Friday night in Southern California, traveling to a stadium halfway between Anaheim and Riverside.

Fisch made a calculated appearance to offer a show of support for Mater Dei quarterback Dash Beierly, already a firm UW commit.

Harris, Beierly's top receiver, caught his eye.

The coach immediately contacted Matt Doherty, his UW director of player personnel, back in the Northwest, with a pressing question.

"I called back to Matt, [and] I said, 'Am I missing something or is there a wide receiver here that we haven't been all over for some reason?' " Fisch wanted to know.

The coach thought Harris' route-running was fantastic. The kid made play after play. He was a 4-star prospect.

"He just looks the part of everything we want," Fisch determined.

However, the coach learned the Huskies had a long-term connection to Harris and no connection at all.

Eleven months earlier, between the UW's Sugar Bowl appearance and the CFP national championship game, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Mater Dei receiver had posted images of himself on social media wearing a Husky uniform and mugging for the camera with then-receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, who was part of Kalen DeBoer's staff.

Former UW receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard and Marcus Harris mug for the camera on the player's recruiting visit. | UW Athletics

Fisch was hired two weeks later after DeBoer, Shephard and others left for Alabama.

One of his staff's first orders of business was to offer a scholarship to Harris, considered one of the elite receivers nationwide for the Class of 2025 -- and the coach had lost sight of the brief interaction.

"I kind of forget the early part of that in January because everything was such a whirlwind," he said.

Harris would move past the UW adn narrow his endless choices to Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas before choosing the Sooners in June.

Two weeks ago, the speedster remained staunchly committed to Oklahoma while Fisch asked about him. On Sunday, Harris de-committed.

Hearing this, the Huskies went in hard.

Marcus Harris shows off his acrobatic ways for the camera at Oklahoma. | Oklahoma

"Obviously having the quarterback from Mater Dei gave us a great, let us call it, inroad to the communication," Fisch said with a smile.

The Huskies set up a Zoom call with Harris within a couple of hours after the teenager made public his change in plans. Fisch spoke with the pass-catcher and his mother for a half hour. The receiver spent an additional 45 minutes with receivers coach Kevin Cummings going over the Husky offensive system.

Coming up on midnight on Tuesday, Fisch had the receiver that everyone else wanted.

"Last night at about 11:45 p.m., I got a text from the coaches who said Marcus has decided Washington is where he wanted to go since the very beginning," Fisch said. "It just took him about a year to figure it out."

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